At home: we may have a superior judge who has never been a judge

The President of the Republic appointed Zsolt András Varga as a constitutional judge to replace Péter Darák, whose term ends at the end of this year. The only condition for his election is to resign as constitutional judge.

Already in July, hvg.hu reported that President János Áder had appointed six constitutional judges who had never been judges, taking advantage of a reform to the law. By law, if one of them leaves the Ab, he or she is mandatory and unsupervised as president of the council of the curia.

Among them is András Zsolt Varga, formerly known as András Zs. Varga, 52 years old and director of the department of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Born in Târgu Mureş, he joined the student movements during the Romanian Revolution. In March 1990, he was in the attic of the DAHR headquarters in Târgu Mureş, together with the writer András Sütő, when Romanian protesters besieged the building and beat the writer. After the incident, he moved from Romania and studied law in Hungary.

He is one of the most direct employees of the Attorney General Péter Polt, his deputy in 2000-2006 and 2010-2013. He previously worked at the Ombudsman’s Office. He was never a judge, which not only means that he has no jurisprudence, but also that he has not walked through the ranks and experienced the existence of an independent judge. This is also the main objection of the National Council of the Judiciary, which at its apparently late September 9 meeting initiated a change in the law.

Surprisingly, however, not only was the current government representative present, but as a member of the OBT, the current outgoing president of the Curia, Péter Darák, saw no objection to someone sitting in his chair with no judicial experience.

Zsolt András Varga appeared at the 2014 constitutional judge candidate hearing with some original and controversial ideas. A few weeks earlier, he told a conference that legalization of the restoration of the dynasty and the restoration of the Apostolic Kingdom, as well as the enactment of the free choice of the king, should be considered. In an article, he recently sided with the Polish government against the EU Court of Justice, which protects the independence of the Polish judiciary, because it argues that it is precisely contrary to judicial independence for a judge to criticize the law given to him. applies.

The election of the President of the Curia requires a secret vote of two thirds of the members of Parliament. If the vote takes place before the inauguration of the winner of the partial elections in Tiszaújváros on October 11, the Fidesz-KDNP will have the majority: 132 out of 198. If the pro-government candidate wins and is sworn in, he still has: 133 out of 199. If the opposition candidate wins and also votes, presumably against the candidate, the German national MP Imre Ritter, who usually votes together with the ruling parties, can still get the qualified candidate. most.

Interestingly, the election of Péter Darák, now 57 years old, for another 9 years did not happen anywhere, although this is not prohibited by the Basic Law or the Law of Judicial Organization. But at times he showed independence and refused to allow politicians to have a say in the verdict. However, it is more important for Viktor Orbán and the President of the Republic, who probably followed his intentions, that their chief prosecutor, who had never worked as a judge, be placed at the head of the Supreme Judicial Board.